City of Dyersburg Engineering Services

A small town in West Tennessee, the City of Dyersburg holds a longstanding partnership with our team through Principal Tiffany Heard who serves as the City Engineer for the municipality. Together we have completed various city engineering projects encompassing civil site design, grant funding support and administration, and urban planning. This experience includes development of financing solutions for significant public facilities, including utility systems, public buildings, parks, and projects that support economic development programs. Our team is a key advocate and trusted advisor for the City, meeting a wide range of needs to support the growth of the community. Below are just two examples of the extensive resume we have developed within the City of Dyersburg.  

Support for Development 

To prepare for this growth, our group of urban planning professionals created an updated comprehensive plan for the City, which included a new zoning ordinance, an updated long range transportation plan, a new zoning map and a new subdivision regulation. We started with existing maps for current and future land use to pinpoint areas with potential land use changes and growth. We compiled years of updates, complaints, discrepancies, and out of date terms and definitions in the current ordinance.  Acting as an extension of Dyersburg staff, our team led community outreach efforts and hosted town hall meetings. We continue to review all development proposals, perform subdivision reviews, and vet rezoning requests well as write all the agendas, staff reports, and run public meetings for the Planning Commission. 

Reuse and Revitalization  

Further city engineering support included a series of federal and state grant funded projects to rethink a dilapidated property in Downtown Dyersburg. Formerly home to a lumber yard, storage facility, and the city’s animal shelter, the site was revitalized to become the Forked Deer River Park, Trailhead, Green Infrastructure Parking Lot, the Reagan Levee Greenway, and the Dyersburg Farmers Market. SSR worked with the City to holistically understand the needs of the community and connect the people to the projects. 

The existing site held a large metal building that formerly housed the local farmer’s market, an abandoned open-air pavilion, a cinder block building, and several crumbling parking lots and abandoned slabs. The series of projects increased parking and accessibility to better serve the existing farmer’s market building and demolished the abandoned pavilion. The project site was graded, landscaped, and repurposed into a thriving riverfront park with a playground, splashpad, and dog park. Finally, the existing cinder block building was rehabilitated into the new River Center which serves as a small community event venue with restrooms, indoor and outdoor showers, canoe and kayak rentals, and a large covered patio with picnic tables.  

At the existing 25,000 SF facility of the Dyersburg Farmers Market, our team of structural engineers provided key improvements in the accessibility and function of the building. Major design changes included the replacement of the roof, addressed drainage issues, added WIFI connectivity, new roll-up doors, and enhanced pedestrian and vehicle access.  

We were also instrumental in the creation of a new, ten-foot-wide asphalt path on top of the existing Reagan Levee, which runs from downtown Dyersburg to the US-51 bypass, through Forked Deer River Park, and down to South Main Street. The team instituted drainage improvements and streetscaping along Clark and Church Streets, and installed an extensive green parking lot with underground drainage, permeable pavement, bioswales, and food truck parking. This crumbling and abandoned infrastructure was resurrected into an accessible recreational space in the heart of downtown Dyersburg for the community to enjoy.  

Looking to the Future 

The City of Dyersburg is a growing municipality invested in its people and community. Through varying civil site and urban planning initiatives, the City continues to improve its public spaces and infrastructure. Our support spans all phases of a project, from grant funding administration and support to design to project completion. In representing the City through Principal Tiffany Heard, we can utilize our extensive knowledge of the community to provide custom support in city engineering needs.